Rion Hanora O'Donovan on the place of 'bad' graffiti in her clothes designs; Dermot Rogers puts some sunlight on the legacy of jazz guitarist, Louis Stewart; Paddy Woodworth slips Esther Woolfson on to the Naturalist's Bookshelf; and Patrick O'Laoghaire starts a new series musical Island postcards.

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Culture File Presents: The Comfort Zone. Artist and performer, Harold Offeh encourages Colm Tóibín and Luke Clancy to think/talk about the late US artist, William Pope.L's performance crawls, as well as the powers of lounging and of silliness.

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Culture File XXXL Edition | After a troubled Northern Irish childhood, Vivien Hewitt found a new life in Italy, and in opera. The director and designer takes a seat in the afternoon quiet of Trieste's Theatre Verdi to talk about a life in the dreamworld of opera.

(Photo credit: Vivien Hewitt)

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Culture File Presents: The Comfort Zone. XXXL Edition. Drummer, vocalist and member of the danktrad supergroup, OXN, Eleanor Myler leads Colm Tóibín into the nice 'n' steady sound of krautrockers, Neu! (From 111025)

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The Culture File panel explores the place of quiet and loud in the contemporary attention economy, with poet, Paula Meehan and musicians and composers, Siobhán Cleary, John Godfrey, and Christine Tobin. Recorded live at New Music Dublin 2025. (From 260425)

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Culture File Presents: The Comfort Zone XXXL Edition: Artist and curator, Kerry Guinan join Colm Tóibín and Luke Clancy to rake over the embers of art-provocateurs K-Foundation's 1994 performance of burning £1 million on a Scottish island. (First broadcast July 25)

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How birds and their metaphors move through the work and the lives of novelist, John Banville, art critic, Orit Gat, novelist, Sara Baume, journalist and author Paddy Woodworth. Under consideration are: The Pigeon; The Swift; The Wheatear; and The Crane. But which scribe fancies which wìngéd muse? (First broadcast Dec 24)

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In this XXXL edition of The Comfort Zone, The Rats: 'horrademic' Prof Darryl Jones brings a favourite 1970s gorecore novel into the Zone, with a steer that James Herbert's The Rats, racism, misogyny and homophobia notwithstanding, has something to offer the world of 2025. 

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In this XXXL edition of the debate, an ancient Irish farming tradition that sees the wisdom of leaving some farm land free from the imperatives of production -- ‘The Hare’s Corner’ -- is celebrated in poetry, story, discussion and music. Paddy Woodworth leads a panel featuring Jane Clarke, Catherine Cleary, Jane Carkill and Colm Mac Con Iomaire.

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Culture File Presents: The Comfort Zone. Music critic Michael Dervan wants everyone in the zone to enjoy the artistry of The Great Slydini and other masters of sleight of hand and misdirection.

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